Lords of Tigris

Various maladies kept Andrew and Adam from the table last night (best wishes guys) but there were still seven of us around the kitchen table when 7.30 arrived: Gareth, Ian, Katy, Joe, Adam T, Martin and myself. We inadvertently found ourselves having a conversation which took an unlikely turn when Ian mentioned the Lego version of Tigris and Euphrates he'd seen online. I don't recall how we got from there to vulvas, but Katy said she'd love to see a Lego version, and gestured something the size of an oval dinner plate. At this point we thought we should probably start playing something, and kicked things off with Cross Clues.

We did pretty well, although I let the side down a bit with a rushed guess and a rushed clue. 

Everyone: 21 out of 25

I forgot to take any photos, but you know what it looks like. 

Then it was time to move on to the evening's main courses. As agreed last week, a few of us dived back into the genius (Martin and Adam) or bewilderment (Gareth and I) of Tigris and Euphrates. Martin availed us of the rules whilst at the other end another type of bonkerness began to manifest in the form of Lords of Vegas.

I'd forgotten the intricacies of Tigris - as much as I ever knew them - but the sense of not having a clue what I was doing was present and correct. Players aren't colours but types. Leaders score points for matching-coloured tiles, except the black leader who can score on behalf of absent leaders. Internal conflict (someone arrives in your kingdom) versus external conflict (someone joins two kingdoms together) is enough to think about already, but on top of the initial opacity you've got the joy/frustration of how these things come to life on the board. "I've never seen you this angry playing a game!" Martin said, but my Sybil-esque mutterings were really about my own shortcomings - I find it hard to get my head around. 

Gareth, on his debut, got blue and green leaders mixed up but coped with the fallback with more grace than I would have. Meantime across the table from us, Adam and Martin had conversations we only half-understood. Halfway through, it felt like Martin was definitely leading (points come in four colours, and your final score is your lowest-colour haul) and after that, I wasn't sure what was happening. I started some wars to just to see what happened, and it wasn't good. 

As the game neared its conclusion, Adam at first ended it, but then decided not to, setting some kind of trap for Martin instead. Meanwhile, in Lords of Vegas, Joe announced that all his shitty luck from last week was balancing out now, as his score marker moved into the giddy heights of the sixties! There was a final big casino payout to come, but Katy and Ian where nowhere near him. 

In Tigris, Martin hadn't fallen into Adam's carefully-laid trap, much to his appalled disdain, and Gareth joined two kingdoms to end the game. As we anticipated, Martin was a clear winner, and Adam reflected that despite it being his favourite game for 15 years and counting, he was still rubbish at it.

Rubbish was all he needed for second place, though:

Martin 7

Adam 4 (wins on tiebreaker, or wins on Tuesday according to my autocorrect)

Gareth (third on Tuesday)

Sam (last on Tuesday) 

Martin made the very reasonable point that if we played it more regularly, that sense of grasping for understanding would drop away. I'm not sure Tigris calls my name for regular play, but I'd be up for going again soon. I'd like to play with a vague sense of agency, at least. As the finale to Lords of Vegas played out, the four of us blasted through a super-quick game of Yokai Septet, the partnership trick-taker where you're trying to claim 7's. 

Martin and I won round one, and were wrapping up round 2 (and the game) as Lords finally wrapped up. Joe's score was astonishing. 

Joe 79

Katy 36

Ian 14

Nobody has ever scored anything like that on a GNN night, as far as I'm aware? Then, like the high-rolling gambler he is, Joe sashayed out the door to the airport. I should probably add he was picking up his daughter, but why ruin the enigmatic illusion? 

We played So Clover. 

Katy finished her clues in rapid time but we found ourselves on a different wavelength and couldn't figure out that Mug went with Croc, as in crockery. Sorry Katy! It wasn't the triumph of last week, with only a couple of sixes in the mix, but a half-decent score all the same:

22/30

Again, no pics. As well as not having the brain for Knizia's classic, I also lack basic memory skills. I did remember to take one of Polterfass though: great to get this barrel-rolling, beer-ordering brinkmanship classic back on the table. I short-changed everyone on the very first turn to get some points on the board and backed it up with a big order on turn 2, but as Ian sank immediately to minus figures, Katy was close behind me. 

Both she and Martin wracked up huge amounts of beer, Katy at one point reeling something like 48 on a single turn. Martin rerolled four barrels several times and somehow didn't go bust. As greedy as the rest of us had been on these big beer hauls, Katy was unstoppable and sailed to a convincing victory:

Katy 89

Sam 57

Ian 38

Martin 30

We wanted to finish with Push It, but I realised having leant it to my brother we couldn't. Martin and I pushed for Crokinole, but we settled on Spicy. What a little gem this thing is. As I made challenge after challenge, and Martin and Ian periodically joined in, Katy simply racked up points by telling truths and successful half-truths. "I'm not even doing anything!" she said, as we frantically challenged each other, usually to little avail. She and Martin both managed to empty their hand of cards (+10 points), but Katy was uncatchable - although Martin gave it a good go.

Katy 28

Martin 25

Sam 18

Ian 12

I was too embroiled to take a picture. Another excellent evening, thanks all. And apologies for my grumbling through T+E.